“Newly come from the river, she knew nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way...
They blackened her with burnt corks and cigarette stubs,
and rolled around laughing on the tavern floor.”―Pablo Neruda.
He closed his eyes for a moment, just basking in the heat of the summer, ignoring the chatter around him for a blissful moment. The sun and the ocean breeze felt divine on his skin after weeks of confinement, even if his sweat was making his cloak stick uncomfortably to his back, he took that feeling over scratchy bandages and cold smelly ointments. Sunburst would have stayed like that all day if the sound of some pony coughing loudly next to him hadn't dragged him back to reality.
Sunburst started, blinking and pretending to be interested in the piles of scrolls in front of him. “Huh, pardon me, could you repeat the last part?”
Spoiled Rich sniffed, giving Sunburst a little sneer before answering. “We were discussing the budget for the new port, my lord.”
“Right, of course,” Sunburst said, taking out the appropriate scroll and reading over the numbers quickly, his eyes widening at the price. “Oh, this is...I didn’t know the damages were so severe...”
“They weren’t.” Shining Armor sat with his hooves crossed, glaring at Spoiled Rich from across the table while she pretended not to notice. “She plans to turn Sire's Hollow into a tourist trap and destroy the town’s livelihood in one swoop.”
“It’s a private luxury port, captain, hardly a tourist trap,” she pointed at the map of the table. “Half the town was decimated by the raid, this is the perfect opportunity to make it new, beautiful, and exciting! Think of how much work and income this could bring!”
“What about the ponies that lived in the area?”
“We relocate them―not far from here, of course, they wouldn’t want to be too far from the action and the business that the new port will bring!” She pulled out a bunch of papers and laid them on the table, showing colorful drawings and sketches of wide boulevards with palm trees over neon signs and modern-looking buildings. “We can extend the main street even further and make it a proper road, build a functional commercial district―the only one in Equestria with a beachfront!―luxury houses, hotels, we could become the next tourist destination by the end of the year.”
The mare looked up and, seeing the bored look in Sunburst’s eyes, she quickly changed tactics. “Of course, if we just offered luxury and entertainment we wouldn’t be any different than Las Pegasus, we also have to offer culture!”
She pulled a couple of different pictures, this time depicting a series of museums and statues instead of palm trees lining the streets. “And what a rich culture we have! The stories of the mermaids that used to sing on the shores and the tales of the brave heroes that were born here, including you my lord! Just imagine a statue of yourself on the main renovated plaza, right in front of the museum dedicated to the history of our town.”
Spoiled Rich grabbed a drawing and placed it triumphantly on top of the others before sliding it over to Sunburst. Shining Armor peered over his shoulder, took one look at the sketch, and immediately covered his mouth, shoulders trembling as he turned away from the table. Sunburst just stared at the paper for a moment before placing it back down.
“This is an interesting proposal for the town Lady Rich, taking into account the urban planning and the use of the land is something we need to seriously consider in the future. If circumstances were different I would look into your proposal with a more open mind, but it’s simply not feasible at the moment.”
“My lord, if it’s the budget you’re worried about we can negotiate it.”
“It’s not that,” Sunburst said, though it was a major reason he wanted to put it down while he could: if his mother saw it she would approve of it without a second thought, and then where would they be? “I’m talking about the blueprints, the design you’re proposing, it’s taking away what little protection the port has to accommodate luxury boats that may or may not come. We can’t afford that, not while the future of the Crown is still so uncertain.”
The old mare frown and raised her chin indignantly. “The crown has always been in jeopardy. If we wait around for the court to settle itself we would get nothing done around here!”
“But we can’t foolishly expose ourselves even more than we already are,” Sunburst countered.
The wind blew through the tent, pushing open one of the flaps that served as the entrance, his eyes were drawn to the motion and he caught sight of the glittering blue ocean, and the blackened ruins of the town below.
Political unrest had sparked with the ascension of Princess Twilight Sparkle V, and ever since then the kingdom had been attacked on all sides, and the Duchy of Sires Hollow hadn’t been the exception.
Sunburst gathered the sketches and pushed them back towards Spoiled Rich. “Once things settle down maybe we can consider opening the port to tourism, but for now fortifying the town is our top priority. Have a good day, Lady Rich.”
Spoiled Rich accepted her defeat, though ungracefully so. She snatched the papers from the table and huffed, walking out the tent with her nose in the air and leaving a trail of sketches in her wake she didn’t bother to collect, shaking in anger and stomping her hooves as she went.
Once the flap of the tent closed, Sunburst’s blank and patient smile dropped along with his face as he let it fall on the table with a thunk. “Praise Celestia, she’s gone.”
Shining Armor stood and picked the papers she left behind. “A luxury port, good grief, it’s not like those low-lives need any more excuses to target our town. Why don’t we bend over and raise our tails for any other pirate that comes our way while we are at it?”
“Be nice Shining, her bits have bought a lot of influence in this town,” Sunburst's voice was muffled by the wood pressed to his snout.
“I’ll be nice alright, nice enough to point the pirates to her house the next time we get raided, and then she will be singing a different tune,” the Captain said angrily and then sighed. “Some ponies just get all the luck, it’s just unfair.”
Sunburst remained quiet but he didn’t disagree with the Captain’s words.
He lifted his face from the table, a piece of paper sticking to his sweaty cheek as he did so. He took it off and rubbed his cheek, hoping that the ink didn’t stain his face too much, and frowned when he saw the sketch that Spoiled Rich left behind. It wasn’t a bad drawing, there was skill and talent behind every line, she obviously had hired an artist or an architect for the piece. It wasn’t the merit of the drawing that irked him, but the subject matter.
It was a drawing of a monument of himself he supposed, it was hard to tell by the liberties the artist had taken with his appearance, standing proudly on top of a rock while stomping a staff in two, water splashing dramatically behind him as he looked at the horizon. The stallion in the sketch looked nothing like him and if it weren’t for the glasses and the goatee he would’ve said it wasn’t him, but the title underneath reassured him that he was the subject:
Statue to commemorate the bravery of Duke Sunburst Zenith II against the Storm King.
Bravery! What bravery? He’d been shaking in his horseshoes when he set sailed with a small fleet to defend the port against the opportunistic Storm King with nothing but a rushed battle strategy and intricate knowledge of the layout of the bay. The only reason he even went on board was that Shining Armor was too busy defending the town against the raiders that managed to disembark, the only other stallion with enough knowledge to defend the port from the incoming pirate ship.
Sunburst planned to stay behind the Naval ships while they duked it out with the Pirates―since their boats were better equipped to handle it than the boat he was on, offering assistance and ideas when needed.
He didn’t count that he would be going head to head with the Storm King himself.
Despite his painstaking planning the enemy managed to gain the upper hand, and when it all seemed lost and Sunburst’s vessel caught fire, he ordered the soldiers to sail full speed ahead towards the enemy ship, ramming it, splitting the larger ship in two and winning the battle with his last-minute, desperate gamble.
The Storm King drowned that night, and Sunburst almost paid the ultimate price for his recklessness. And he would do it again in a heartbeat.
Sunburst turned with a glare when he heard a snicker on his side. “What’s so funny?”
The Captain coughed lightly before answering. “Just thinking about how they managed to get your nose right.”
“And everything else painfully wrong,” Sunburst grumbled and crumble the paper, tossing it behind him. “I understand she wants to get to my good side, but she could’ve been less obvious about it.”
“Spoiled Rich isn’t known for being empathetic, she probably thought that any pony would want a statue of themselves because she would definitely want one of herself.”
Sunburst scratched the back of his neck, looking up to the tent flap and seeing it empty. “Was she the last one?”
Shining Armor looked at the list and grinned. “Seems like it.”
“Let’s go to the market,” Sunburst said quickly, jumping off his chair excitedly and heading towards the exit, dismissing the pair of guards waiting at the entrance of the tent. They nodded and began to pack up for the day.
“Hey, slow down for a bit,” the white unicorn said, following him out the tent and into the street. “What about your wounds? Are you feeling better already?”
Sunburst put a hoof behind his neck, pulling the collar of his robe higher, covering the missing patches of fur and barely healed skin underneath. He was grateful for his habit of wearing a cape wherever he went since it hid the worst of his wounds from the public. The doctors reassured him that the hair would grow back eventually, but the scars would always be there as a reminder of his brush with death.
Not like he needed a physical reminder, his nightmares made sure he never forgot how close he came to dying.
“I feel great, better than I have in ages,” Sunburst said as he walked. “I want to see how much progress has been made on the harbor and talk to the townsfolk, see about coming up with an evacuation plan if something like this happens again, even with a stronger and fortified harbor we can’t just leave that to chance.”
The town was teeming with life as they headed towards the market, even if the houses had seen better days. The Storm King’s forces had left their mark on the town, but they were slowly but surely picking themselves up, with ponies working around the clock to make their homes better and stronger.
The market square was busy, full of idle chatter and merchants selling their wares, children playing while the work ponies were busy repairing the harbor. This area received the worst of the damage due to its closeness to the port, many buildings had collapsed and were burned during the raid, the missing structures and the blackened houses were hard to ignore in the glare of the sun, even if the rubble had been cleared and the stalls were as colorful as ever.
It saddened him to see the damage, but every pony around him seemed optimistic. They waved and called out to him when they passed, asking how he was and that he should stick around for a drink later. Sunburst smiled and waved back, promising to talk to them later and to keep up the good work.
He and Shining were talking to one of the work ponies, discussing the progress of the new harbor and details of the construction, when the bells from the nearby tower started to chime loudly. The workers of the shipyard dropped what they were doing and rushed through the crowded streets, running past Sunburst and his group.
“Oh, they’re ringing the bells already? Then that must mean that the execution is about to start.”
Sunburst frowned. “Execution? What did the poor creature do to warrant such punishment?”
“Work for the Storm King, that’s who,” the stallion said, spitting at the ground at the mention of his name. “They took a bunch of them to Canterlot, but left this one behind ‘cause they wouldn’t say a word, serve as a warning to those that are still hiding in town, not that they would care, those lowly pirates, we should hang them all!”
Sunburst shifted uncomfortably on his hooves while keeping a straight face. “At least this one will pay for its crimes.”
“They should all pay! If the old duke were alive he would have thrown them all in the harbor with rocks tied to their necks!”
Shining Armor took a step forward, just a tiny movement that was barely noticeable, but got the message across, all the same, his armor caught the sunshine and made him noticeable to the angry stallion. The work pony clicked his mouth shut, coughing awkwardly before mumbling an excuse and headed towards the crowd.
Sunburst sighed and walked away from the harbor. He knew there would be some backlash when he limited executions to one per year, but the attacks had worsened it in a way he hadn’t predicted. With emotions running high, the town’s ponies were calling for blood, some kind of retribution, and Sunburst feared he would have to take back his decree in other to appease the crowd.
“The new watchtower is being built across the town, right?” Sunburst asked, staring at the ever-growing crowd in the market square.
“We would have to go through the main square I’m afraid,” Shining Armor said, walking closely next to Sunburst. “But that can wait until tomorrow, you’ve done enough for today.”
Sunburst considered this for a moment but shook his head. “Might as well get this over with.”
The two ventured into the plaza, and the further they walked the thicker the crowd was, making the wide streets and the market feel smaller than usual. Despite their efforts, the density of the crowd slowed down their progress and forced Sunburst to stay long enough to see as they brought the prisoner forward, the crowd growing restless as the drums beat out the infamous funeral march. Despite his misgivings, Sunburst was turned into another spectator as he stared at the gallows with pity and curiosity.
A burlap sack covered the prisoner’s head, chains on their hooves that dragged with every step that they took, their body covered by an oversize robe. They didn’t struggle or cry as Sunburst expected, they just walked slowly and calmly as the executioner tugged them by the rope around their neck.
The hangman lifted the sack in one fluid motion. Dirty purple hair tumbled out in disheveled waves over a young face, a mare’s face, judging by the wide eyes that stared at the crowd with sudden apprehension. She tensed and began to back away, only to be dragged back to the front yet again by a yank of the rope.
Watching her struggle Sunburst thought she didn’t look like a spy or a warrior. She looked too frail to be capable of much harm, small and thin when compared to all the ponies present. Her cheeks were covered in soot and grime, staining the natural shade of lavender of her coat, her lips chapped and cracked, with dried blood marring her lips and smearing a dark purple color over what should have been a healthy shade of pink.
Those lips trembled as she surveyed the crowd around her, her ears folded against her head at the sound of the jeering mass of ponies calling for her death. Whatever might have been in those dark blue orbs was fading quickly, swallowed up by fear and resignation to her faith. It looked like she was ready to cry and yet no tears spilled.
Like in his vision.
His heart pounded against his ribcage as he stared at those marooned eyes, which were the deepest, saddest shade of blue he’d ever seen, in both his dreams and in reality. Even if they now belonged to a fearful mare waiting at death’s door, he would be a fool to mistake her for any pony else.
And yet Sunburst paused, his mouth gaping open stupidly as he watched.
The hangman looped a thick rope over her neck, tightening it roughly as the scribe recited her crimes to the crowd. “This mare has been charged with piracy, espionage, and conspiracy against the crown of Equestria, her silence and refusal to cooperate with the authorities have sentenced her to death by the rope.”
Some ponies in the crowd cheered loudly, others nodded in agreement with the scribe, others screamed at the hangman to get on with it, but Sunburst was quiet, frozen with shock as the hangman pushed her to the front until she stood on top of the trap door.